NCAA reaches $20 million settlement in Sam Keller video game lawsuit

As the Ed O'Bannon case gets under way today in Oakland, the NCAA settled another lawsuit stemming for the use of college athletes' likenesses in video games without compensation.

The settlement in the lawsuit, brought by former Arizona State and Nebraska quarterback Sam Keller, will award $20 million to certain Division I men's basketball and FBS football players who played during the years that EA Sports sold games featuring their likenesses.

"With the games no longer in production and the plaintiffs settling their claims with EA and the Collegiate Licensing Company, the NCAA viewed a settlement now as an appropriate opportunity to provide complete closure to the video game plaintiffs," NCAA Chief Legal Officer Donald Remy said in a release.

EA Sports and the CLC last September settled claims against it by plaintiffs in the Keller and O'Bannon cases, leaving the NCAA as the defendant in both cases.

The Keller case was scheduled for trial in March 2015 in federal court in California. The NCAA expects its settlement and the settlement involving EA and CLC to be approved by the court before March.

Remy said the NCAA's settlement does not change its belief that its collegiate model operates lawfully, and that it provides the greatest opportunities to the most student-athletes by not paying only Division I men's basketball and football players.

"The collegiate model of sports provides hundreds of thousands of student-athletes with unmatched opportunities for education, growth, mentoring, and future success," Remy said.